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- In case you missed it, my colleague Aaron Churchill published a report this week, looking at a key implementation step in Ohio’s effort to enshrine the Science of Reading as the law of the land: Creating a state-approved list of high-quality literacy curricula and instructional materials. The report was covered by the media in Youngstown…. (WKBN-TV, Youngstown, 7/10/24) …and by the good folks at Gongwer. (Gongwer Ohio, 7/11/24)
- Here is an interesting story about school choice under the guise of something else. Specifically, what schools the children of military families assigned to Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base attend. At least 10 districts outside of Dayton are listed as the top destinations, taking from 130 to more than 900 students each. It is not clear from this piece how they all end up in each of these districts, although having housing specifically for base personnel within district boundaries seemingly contributes to the top two on the list. (And those school communities are super welcoming and supportive, too, as we learn. Lovely.) So, proximity to home is important to many, but we are also told that “military families are much like other families transferring for job reasons when it comes to them deciding on a school district: They’re looking for schools with good academic programs and are willing to drive farther to get to work.” Meaning that those with the money to buy or rent in the high performing Oakwood or Northmont districts will often do so, no matter how far Mom and Dad have to travel to work at the base. I was interested to see that good old Yellow Springs Exempted Village Schools, did not appear on the top 10 list, despite being very high-performing and located closer to the base than several of those other, lesser choices. Kind of makes me wonder if interdistrict open enrollment might not play a part in some of these choices as well. Sir! Just sayin’, Sir! (Dayton Daily News, 7/11/24)
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